"Dark Horizon, Part II"
Writers: Chris Yost and Craig Kyle
Director: Gary Graham
Original Air Date: August 16, 2003
Introducing: Apocalypse
Synopsis/Review: Well, after the
lights go out, Pyro lights up the room again, and the battle begins. These
stone statues are TOUGH, albeit beatable. Through various circumstances,
they're split up involuntarily into four different teams: 1. Quicksilver
(funny, he wasn't there before...), Pyro, and Cyclops; 2. Storm, Jean,
and Iceman; 3. Colossus, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler; 4. Beast, Xavier,
and Magneto. The first three teams fight off the statues, while Beast,
Xavier, and Magneto get trapped in a room filled with glyphs. They don't
have any real way to get out, so Xavier sends a message to the others telling
them where he is while Beast works on deciphering the glyphs. Alright,
backstory time:
A guy in a futuristic
suit "came from the sky" in a big diamond-shaped spacecraft. He became
Rama Sha, ruler of Egypt. At about this time, Apocalypse was found in the
desert by an Egyptian named Baal, who gave him the name "En Sabah Nur",
which means "The First One". As he grew up, it was quickly realized that
he was unbeatable in battle, and En Sabah Nur took the name "Apocalypse".
Eventually, he took over control of Giza from Rama Sha, who had sensed
his power and tried to war with Apocalypse's tribe. Rama Sha failed, of
course. Apocalypse found the source of Rama Sha's power- the Eye of Ages,
an artifact hidden in a pyramid, and he came up with a plan to turn all
the world into Mutants (think the first X-Men movie...), but as he got
into the device and it drained his energy, his supposedly loyal subjects
locked him in it to prevent him from continuing with his schemes and put
the thing behind those three doors.... in Tibet.
The X-Men are in the
wrong tomb! Luckily, they eventually manage to bust out (like, 10 minutes
later). During this time, we learn that Kitty grows to like Colossus a
little, who she thinks is under the "tough guy" act, and is really "a big
softie". Colossus also, we learn, is... certainly less evil than his comrades.
The teams eventually find each other again, after defeating most of the
statues (which are mechanical...). Xavier finds that diamond-shaped spacecraft
seen earlier, hidden away in the depths of the tomb. Inside it is a helmet
not unlike that in Cerebro, and, running out of options, he puts it on.
He figures out how to work it via the helmet inferface, learning that the
craft was actually built ages from now. Once the rest of the X-Men
and Brotherhood members get in the thing, he teleports it to Tibet, where
the real action is awaiting.
Alright, now I'm going
to backtrack a little. Gambit, Sabretooth, and Wolverine have tracked the
plane to Tibet, where Mesmero, Rogue and Mystique are making their way
up to the tomb where Apocalypse is in. (The interactions between Gambit,
Sabretooth, and Wolverine are HILARIOUS....) During this time, we learn
that Mystique is NOT under the control of Mesmero, but is there voluntarily,
after being promised that hers and Rogue's futures would be secure in return
for her cooperation. (Remember, she already somewhat knew about Apocalypse
from Destiny's prophecy in "Self Possessed".)
Apparently, Mesmero cannot control Mystique's mind, for... some reason.
They "explained" it, but I don't really get it- something about her having
too great of a control over herself, or something. It turns out Mystique
HERSELF is the third key to Apocalypse (wha...?), which has to be a shapeshifting
Mutant. (Again... wha?) Mystique slithers through the small hole in the
doorway and places her hand on a pedestal, as Mesmero instructed. She immediately
turns to stone, and the third and final door is opened. Mesmero hurries
Rogue in as Gambit blows down the door outside and Wolverine and Sabretooth
make their way in. Rogue walks over to Apocalypse's "coffin" and opens
it. Apocalypse wakes up, but he's pretty darn old and wrinkled. At this
time, Mesmero's control of Rogue wears off- he's managed to hold off Gambit,
Sabretooth, and Wolverine for admirably long (remember, he can't control
their minds because of Xavier's mental blocks), but he eventually goes
down. Before Rogue can gather her senses, Apocalypse grabs her, and drains
her of all the powers she's absorbed. This rejuvenates his body, like when
Magneto activated that Rebirth device in "Operation:
Rebirth". At this time, the big futuristic diamond spacecraft thingie
teleports in. Xavier and the others get out, but it's too late. Apocalypse
hovers out of his tomb, blasts everyone out of the way without barely so
much as lifting a finger, and steals the teleporting spacecraft thingie.
To be continued...
Last Words: I have two different opinions about this episode. One- about the action and overall feel and excitement of the episode- I have absolutely no complaints about. I can only rave about it- simply AWESOME. Those stone statues just being mechanical and not magic-driven like I thought they were was certainly a relief. On the other hand, a few minor plot devices about this one left me scratching my head- mostly about Mystique. Why couldn't Mesmero control her? Sorry, I need a better explanation than "she has better control of her mind" or somesuch. At first, the fact that SHE herself was the third key was a bit odd, until I realized that it didn't necessarily HAVE to be her- it could've been Shadowcat or Nightcrawler, who could've gotten behind the door just as easily. (Speaking of which... why WASN'T it Shadowcat or Nightcrawler? I mean, he can control THEIR minds easily enough...) And at first I thought the futuristic men in Apocalypse's backstory were the Shi'ar, and I was like, "Oh GOD no...", but then after Xavier talked about the ship telling him it was to be built far in the future and he was confused by it, I realized that it was just some time-traveling futuristic humans. Whew. Hey, wait a minute... THAT'S NOT ANY BETTER!!! I'm really, REALLY hoping that this was just an Easter egg for long-time X-Men fans and it isn't going to be explored any more in the series. I do NOT want this time-traveling futuristic human corny BS to enter into Evolution. So, although that was just a minor plot point and won't affect my rating for THIS episode much, it WILL if they continue to expand on this. (Post-mortem add-on: They didn't much. WOO!)
Overall Rating: 8/10 Great
(NOTE: Although "Dark Horizon, Part 2" was aired as the twelfth episode in Season 3, it is in actuality the thirteenth.)